Infinite Unknown

Related article: NASA data shows thickest and oldest Arctic ice is melting

Arctic sea ice could break apart completely at the North Pole this year, allowing ships to sail over the normally frozen top of the world.

The potential landmark thaw - the first time in human history the pole would be ice-free - is a stark sign of global warming, according to an article Friday on the web site of the The Independent, a London newspaper.

“Symbolically it is hugely important,” said Mark Serreze of the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado. “There is supposed to be ice at the North Pole, not open water.”

Last year, the fabled Northwest Passage opened as Arctic ice retreated more than ever before.

There is no land at the North Pole, but as long as anyone has looked, it has remained a giant block of ice year-round. Scientists have been watching Arctic sea ice melt more and more each year. But each summer in recent years, the amount of ice has gotten thinner and thinner. Each winter’s freeze, therefore, results in a thinner pack that, this summer, could melt altogether.

“The issue is that, for the first time that I am aware of, the North Pole is covered with extensive first-year ice,” Serreze is quoted by The Independent. “I’d say it’s even-odds whether the North Pole melts out.”

Russia and other countries, meanwhile, have been arguing over who has rights to the region’s resources, including potential oil reserves.

Several studies in recent years have predicted that the North Pole could be ice-free within a few decades. Alarm has ratcheted up every summer as the ice gets thinner and thinner. In a study released June 10, scientist said the rapid meltoff in the Arctic could threaten permafrost in continental soil elsewhere above the Arctic circle in a warm version of the snowball effect.

Last summer saw a record melt of Arctic sea ice, which shrank to more than 30 percent below its average. Around the peak of the melt, in September, air temperatures over land in the western Arctic from August to October were more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above the 1978-2006 average.

“The rapid loss of sea ice can trigger widespread changes that would be felt across the region,” said Andrew Slater, also of the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

• Video: Melting Sea Ice Seen From Orbit
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• North vs. South Poles: 10 Wild Differences

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Tags: Arctic sea ice, climate change, earth changes, Global Warming, NASA, North Pole

A polar bear roams on the remote Svalbard archipelago ((AP Photo/Scanpix))

A polar bear roams on the remote Svalbard archipelago between Norway’s northern tip and the North Pole, Sept. 1, 1998. The thousands of polar bears that prowl the archipelago are one of the main reason visitors venture to the frozen islands, which are as far north as one can go on a regularly scheduled airline. The huge and aggressive animals rarely come into Longyearbyen, the capital of the Svalbards, but local authorities recommend that visitors who head out of town take along high-powered rifles,which can be rented at local stores.

You know when climate change is biting hard when instead of a vast expanse of snow the North Pole is a vast expanse of water. This year, for the first time, Arctic scientists are preparing for that possibility.

“The set-up for this summer is disturbing,” says Mark Serreze, of the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). A number of factors have this year led to most of the Arctic ice being thin and vulnerable as it enters its summer melting season.

In September 2007, Arctic sea ice reached a record low, opening up the fabled North-West passage that runs from Greenland to Alaska. Continue reading »

Tags: Alaska, climate change, earth changes, Global Warming, Greenland, North Pole, North-West passage

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The thickest, oldest and toughest sea ice around the North Pole is melting, a bad sign for the future of the Arctic ice cap, NASA satellite data showed on Tuesday.

“Thickness is an indicator of long-term health of sea ice, and that’s not looking good at the moment,” Walt Meier of the National Snow and Ice Data Center told reporters in a telephone briefing.

This adds to the litany of disturbing news about Arctic sea ice, which has been retreating over the last three decades, especially last year, when it ebbed to its lowest level. Continue reading »

Tags: Antarctica, Arctic sea ice, Greenland, Melting, NASA, North Pole